San Francisco hosted the 2017 North American GAA finals on
Labor Day weekend. The games were played
at Pairc na nGael on Treasure Island, San Francisco GAA’s home facility. Treasure Island is a man-made island in the
middle of San Francisco Bay that was created from dredging the harbor to make
for safer shipping channels. The island was
created in 1937-38 and the Golden Gate Exposition was held there in 1939, from
which a lot of art deco style buildings remain. The island was also the home for a naval
station, and the San Francisco GAA opened their fields there in 2009. It is
accessible by road via the Bay Bridge and is just a short drive from downtown
San Francisco.
Six teams from the Boston Northeast division made the 3,000
mile journey west to participate in the finals.
In senior competiton were the Shannon Blues footballers, Fr. Tom Burke’s
hurlers, and Boston Shamrocks Ladies footballers. Cork competed in the junior A football,
Tipperary in junior A hurling, and Donegal in junior B football.
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| A Great First North American for the Shannon Blues. |
Saturday saw two Boston teams progress into the finals. The Shannon Blues had a convincing win
against Donegal Philadelphia with goals from James Feeney, Kieran Hurley and
Darren Wallace seeing them to a 6-10 to 0-6 win. Tipperary also made the Junior A hurling
final with a 4-18 to 1-5 win over Vancouver.
The Shannon Blues captured the senior football championship for
the first time in the history of the club on Sunday. The Boston side faced host team, Sean Treacy’s
in the final. The Blues fielded 5 of the
starters from the Boston final two weeks earlier, and included no less than 6
players from the junior team in the starting 13. Playing with the wind in the first half, the visitors
built a sizeable six point lead at half time.
Kieran Hurley swung over some well taken efforts, with Darren Wallace
doing some great running. A goal from
Hurley just before half time saw the Blues into a 1-7 to 0-4 lead at the break,
but Treacy’s would have that wind advantage in the second half.
The home side made the push and the game was tied coming
down the stretch. With the Blues
struggling to make headway against the breeze, Treacy’s won most every midfield
ball and capitalized on the possession.
Eventually a penalty brought it to two points, Mike Moriarty got his
fingertips to the ball, but the kick had too much behind it and the it found
the back of the net. The Blues back line
was under extreme pressure and had to dig in.
Two more points made it level and Treacy’s had the momentum, but wasted
several golden chances to go ahead.
There was a late push in the Blues however, and the Boston side wet into
a one point lead after substitute Jimmy Maher put them ahead. Fresh legs from
Pat Moriarty also helped the Blues cause.
After the sides were level again, Moriarty won a scrappy kickout and set
Darren Wallace free for a point to put the Blues one to the good again.
After Treacy’s missed another chance, a quick kickout to
Barry Hartnett set up a goal in a move involving Wallace and Moriarty, and
finished with emphasis by none other than maestro, Hurley. Treacy’s had one last chance to score and the
shot flashed across the face of goal. And so it was the Blues 2017 North American
Senior Football champions by a score of 2-11 to 1-10. It was a great victory to top off a season
that saw them grow into the Boston championship and come good at the right
time.
The Blues team that captured the first ever North American
Senior Football Championship for the club was:
Michael Moriarty, Derek O'Brien, Fionn Herlihy, Trevor Wallace, Barry
Harnett, Conor Kerins, Pat Murray (AB), Maurice Young (AB), Steven Conway,
Darren Wallace, Conor Fitzgerald (AB), Steven Conroy, Kieran Hurley. Jimmy Maher, Pat Moriarty, James Feeney, Mike
St. Bernard (AB), Shane Kelly, Conor Mullen.
Tipperary ended up capturing the Junior championship with
room to spare after great overall team performance. Facing an Auston Texas side, the Boston lads
had put plenty of daylight between themselves and the Cowboys by half
time. With captain Jimmy Maher on form,
and Seanie McGarr and Cathal Madden tight at corner back, it was a 4-10 to 1-8
half time lead for the Premier county. Sean Delaney pulled off two wonderful saves
and at the other end of the field the bulk of the scores went to Russell
Quirke. The Cappaghwhite man tallied 7
points from frees and ended with a haul of 4-7.
Joseph O’Sullivan tallied 3-3 in the other corner, while Cronan Dempsey
chipped in with two points from center back.
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| Fr. Tom's came up against a strong Naomh Padraig side from San Fran. |
Cork junior A footballers were unlucky to get knocked out at
the semi-final stage by a last minute goal having led by 0-16 to 0-14. The
Boston Shamrocks came up against a very fit Charlotte team, which contained
just 2 Irish born players, and an Olympian playing in goals. The Shamrocks came back with the help of
goals from Sara Jane McDonald and Eadoin Connolly after falling behind early,
however the Charlotte keeper proved to be a game saver as on two occasions in
the final stages. With the Shamrocks
putting the pressure on, Sara Jane McDonald and Shannon Mullen were through
only to be denied by point blank saves.
The final score was Boston Shamrocks 3-6 Charlotte 5-9. Donegal junior B footballers were also denied
a place in the final following a 2 point loss to San Diego. Diarmuid Moyne and Matthew Cutliffe were on
form up front, and at the back Ciaran McDevitt and Sean Winston defended
well. There was a chance to win it at
the end, however, Gerard O’Kane’s shot blazed wide with the keeper to
beat. Fr. Tom’s also went out at the
first hurdle to a strong home team in Naomh Padraig who went on the win the championship.
And so, the end of another Boston and North American GAA
season with 2 national trophies headed back to the New England. A year from now the finals come back east
with Philadelphia hosting.
By Rory O'Donnell
